Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Extemporaneous

Yes, I am back, in a very disorganized muddle. Evidently I can create new posts, but I still can't access my archived drafts (and you know how I live to plan, outline, draft and redraft stuff.)

No worries. We'll just call it Improv Week at PBW.

I love summer because it's the best reading time of year for me. Every week I read on average ten to fifteen books, but I'm able to knock out a few more whenever the kids are out of school. I don't know exactly how many books I read per week during summer, but my TBR stack constantly needs replenishment.

I thought it would be fun to find out how much I read and make a giveaway out of it, so for this week (6/17-6/24), I'm going to take everything (books, magazines, newspaper articles, etc.) that I read, put it in a box, and send it to one of you. So far I've read Never Lie to a Lady by Liz Carlyle, Raintree: Haunted by Linda Winstead Jones, Blaze by Stephen King, The Kristallis Baby by Natalie Rivers, Unlikely Angel by Ashley Smith, Waters Edge magazine June 07 issue, and a pile of articles from the Sunday paper.

For a chance to win, in comments to this post, tell us the title and author of the book you're reading now (or, if you're in a reading dry spell, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight on Sunday, June 24, 2007. I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner the box with everything I read this week in it. Giveaway open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something at PBW in the past.

I don't yet know what I'm reading next, but I think it's going to be Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler aka Sydney Croft's Riding The Storm.

I'm really just here to say thanks for pointing me to the Raintree books! I was kinda "it's a Nocturne...maybe it's going to be a reading disaster for me like Bombshell" so I wasn't keen. And don't put me in the draw. :)

I'm actually reading Afterburn (S. L. Viehl ;)) right now. So far, big thumbs up! After this I'll probably head back to the library and grab the next Wheel of Time book... not sure which one I'm up to. Good stuff, that series.

For example, my book at work is How to Write Killer Fiction by Carolyn Wheat, my bedside book is Paths Not Taken by Simon R Green, my bath book is Urban Shaman by CE Murphy and my stuck in traffic/waiting for the kids book is The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Sometimes, I have even more books on the go, but I've restricted myself to no more than four...

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of Marjorie Liu's new book that comes out next month, so I am deep into that story. I think that I read about five books a week and am alwalys looking for new authors and books.

I am reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Wonderful story). Just finished Jim Butcher's Death Masks(very good), Angela Knight's Master of Dragons (so-so) and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking (lyrical).

What a fantastic contest. I'm currently reading A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. I usually gobble books up in the summer, too, but I can't now with the job. I read nonfiction before bed because fiction keeps me up, but the only time I have for reading now is before bed! Uh-oh! I need to tweak my schedule.

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong is in progress. The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp is next in line (and a monster of a book!). Sir Thursday by Garth Nix is my "waiting for the child's extracurricular activity to conclude" standby.

Like Linesse, I usually a have a book for all locations and occasions going. I'm reading 'Komar' by Lois McMaster Bujold, 'The Silver Pigs' by Lindsey Davis, and 'Talyn' by Holly Lisle. I'm out new S.L.Viehl material at the moment. Hmmm.... Rereading is good too.

I just finished reading "St Peter's Fair" by Ellis Peters, and and halfway through "The Last Camel Died at Noon" by Elizabeth Peters. I know these aren't cutting edge new titles, but I have both series as audiobooks and I like to listen while I'm knitting. (Gah, that makes me sound so old!)

I have been pleasantly surprised by the last book, an anthology. Usually I find only two or three stories that I enjoy in an anthology. I've enjoyed nearly every one in this book. Very fun complilation of Mummy type stories.

I'm also reading several books at one time. The one I read at home is Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian, the one I'm reading for book club is A Grave Talent by Laurie R. King, and the one I take to the dayjob is Rebel Ice by someone... the name escapes me *g*.

I'm reading "The Perks of being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, "Doppleganger" by Marie Brennan, and still going through "The Nasty Bits" by Anthony Bourdain (been reading it in segments for a couple of months).

I just finished reading an ARC of IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by Patti O'Shea and ON THE PROWL which is an anthology by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance & Sunny. Both are excellent books and are due out in August. I've also read several Kate Steele ebooks from Changeling Press. Short week so far. *g*

Can I still enter? I'm strapped for new stuff to read. Right now, here's the pile'o'books I'm trying to make work for me because they worked in the past:

"Once a Hero" by Elizabeth Moon, "Spindle's End" by Robin McKinley, "Dolley Madison in Love and War" and "Riding Shotgun" by Rita Mae Brown and last, not least: "The Lives of Dax", edited by Marco Palmieri.

None of them are throwing off sparks for me right now. Maybe I should sit down and write a book, myself.

The Hazards of Hunting a Duke by Julia London, and I finally got my hands on StarDoc and started reading it at the red lights on the way home from the bookstore. (I'm not entirely crazy. I've actually seen someone reading behind the wheel of a moving vehicle on the highway for goodness sakes. At least I stop first.)

I've also got Nightlife by Rob Thurman and Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair on the TBR pile. I'm impressed by people who can read more than a couple of books at a time. I had to train myself to be able to read even two at a time.

Read so far this week: "The Devil in Winter" by Lisa Kleypas, Holly Lisle's "Create a Plot Clinic", and re-read "Diplomacy of Wolves" by Holly Lisle. Tomorrow and Friday, re-reading "Vengeance of Dragons" and "Courage of Falcons", books two and three in the her trilogy.

I have to add that last weekend I re-read "Blade Dancer". Some books are just too good to read only once (or twice).

Hmmmmmm.........at the moment I am reading Charles Sheffield's "Dark as Day". It's a definate must for fans of hard sci fi, but sort of confusing to me. Whats the opposite of 'hard' sci fi? I guess I usually read regular sci fi, cuz this book was hard to get into and harder to keep reading. I'm not the type to put a book down once I start on it though, so I'll keep on reading.

Reading "The Flying U Ranch" by B. M. (Bertha Muzzy) Bower, a western written by a woman roughly contemporary with Owen "The Virginian" Wister. Not as good as the first book in this series I read, this one is a random bit of fluff about a range war between cattlemen and sheepherders in Montana. But Bower's style is fairly easy to digest compared to her contemporaries and it's neat to be reading a western this old that's not all dust and testosterone.

I am currently reading any of Holly Lisele's books that I can find after going to her site from your's. I am also reading Harry Potter in anticipation of the new one, and am enjoying A Plague of Memory.

I'm in-between books right now. I just finished The Dream Thief by Shana Abe and my next book is The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (starting it today on my coffee break). Also read this week, When Gods Die by C.S. Harris (book 2 of the Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series).

I'm currently reading Shadows in the Starlight by Elaine Cunningham. I'd say it's urban fantasy, but it's written in a very unfantastical way - completely different to any UF I've read. It's almost like a straight PI novel but with elves. Very gritty and compulsive reading.

Ooh, what a neat idea :). I just wish I read as fast as you do. Not including the reading for work stuff, I can finish 1-2 paperbacks in a good week.

I swear this is pure coincidence, but I just finished a book this morning. Night Lost by...umm, who was that ;)...Lynn Viehl. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the Darkyn books. And all the set up in the first book is playing out in each one so sweetly.

Anyway, I'm also reading The Bull from the Sea by Mary Renault because Colin wouldn't let me take Night Lost on my camping trip for fear one of my friends would snag the book and he'd never get the chance to read it :). It's funny because I just listened to an audiobook of Greek Mythology. It's a good read so far :).

I just arrived at my aunt and uncle's place this morning, so I haven't yet started on a book (although they have rooms full - it's a great place to visit). So far today I've read a Small Farm and a few Harrowsmith Country Life magazines. I'd like to toss my name in the hat, though.

Kairokitty2002 I read several novels at a time, there is the one I keep at work and read during breaks. The one I keep at my other job and read during lunch time and the ones that I have going at home. I am currently in the process of reading: The Margarets - Sheri S. Tepper, Murder in Little Italy - Victoria Thompson, Lean Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovice, Talyn - Holly Lisle.

Right at the moment, I'm reading Protector of Flight by Robin D. Owens... yesterday it was Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gilman... and there were two older romance novels late last night that I'm too lazy to go hunt up.

I suppose this will put me in the category of "We know what you are, we're just negotiating the price."

So I'll enter, and I'll even provide my reading list.

Just finished: "Volk's Game", a Russian thriller by Brent Ghelfi. Brutal, depressing and moments of heart.

Just started: "Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants" by Lee Goldberg. After "Volk," I need something lighter.

Scanning: "Rule the Web" by Mark Frauenfelder. Collection of useful applications for nearly every aspect of Web life.

Collections of Prince Valiant and Steve Canyon comics, from Fantagraphics and Kitchen Sink. Bought these back in the '80s. Now, they're entertaining my kids, who've raided my comic book collection (once I put away the R.Crumb, the undergrounds and the *ahem* more adult material).

I'm reading George RR Martin's "A feast for crows" right now... "Ender's Shadow" By Orson Scott Card is my current train-book. And I'm also slowly working through Jonathan Ames' "What's Not to Love?: The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer" which is very welcome when I need a sense of the real universe for a change.

I'm currently between books (just finished Joe Boyd's bio "White Bicycles") and am soaking up the Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary issue and an article in Print magazine about the redesign of the children's newsletter "Weekly Reader".

May that, and random luck, be enough to win me some more stuff to read!